New and Cheaper Kindle Fire tablets rumoured

by6/18/2012 9:22:45 AM

6/18/2012 9:22:45 AM

Previously, news about the Amazon Kindle Fire was of more interest to US consumers. But with a rumoured summer launch of the Kindle Fire in the UK, news of new models could be relevant to us in the UK too.

The latest talk about the Kindle Fire in the UK comes from a planned launch of the Amazon Appstore in Europe. In turn, that has renewed speculation about the Kindle Fire launching at the same time. After all, one sits very well with the other. But now, new models are also said to be launching, which could mean new (and cheaper) tablet options when the launch does take place.

According to DigiTimes, the company is looking to reduce the price of its current model to $149 in the US, presumably to fight off expected competition from the Google Nexus tablet and an iPad mini.

On top of that, the company is rumoured to be launching new models, including a seven-inch tablet with an improved screen resolution of 128x800-pixels, which will sell for $199. Bigger tablets are also being developed, specifically 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch models, although it looks like the larger of those two will be the model hitting the market in early 2013.

The idea is to create a range of tablets for different budgets, similar to the strategy Apple is looking to adopt (if it does finally launch an iPad mini).

Of course, it's all academic unless the Kindle Fire does hit the UK. But that does look a lot more likely now than was the case six months ago. Amazon will want a foothold in a world market before it is pushed out by all the upcoming budget tablets, that's for sure.